DISCOVERBristol County Agricultural High School Dighton, Massachusetts HMFH ARCHITECTS
A unique career technical school that supports a working farm on campus, Bristol County Agricultural High School offers a rich curriculum rooted in science and environmental education to its 640 students.
Completed
Driven by the school’s culture of immersive, handson learning, all facets of the campus function as teaching tools for students, providing them with real-world experiences in six new and renovated facilities that house the school’s seven career technical programs in agricultural mechanics, animal science, arboriculture, environmental engineering, floriculture, landscape design and natural resource management.
OVERVIEW
Location Dighton, MA Students 640 9-12 2021 Size 110,745 sf (new) 85,405 sf (renovation)
Grades
Bristol Aggie’s experience-based learning model prioritizes student involvement in all aspects of its curriculum and the design of the new and updated campus was no exception. Designers, faculty, students and community members worked in close collaboration to establish a set of goals reflective of Bristol Aggie’s values to ensure the new space caters to the unique needs of the school community.
A VISIONCOLLECTIVE
“From day one, HMFH has been working with us toward a single vision which will unify our campus and serve as a foundation for stronger school wide culture rooted in our agricultural past but looking to a future that is based in science, technology and sustainability.”
ADELE SANDS, FORMER SUPERINTENDENT, BCAHS
AGRICULTURAL GILBERT HALL LANDSCAPE/ARBOR
The renewed campus integrates all seven career technical programs along a vibrant pedestrian thoroughfare. This central circulation route connects the north and south sides of campus, uniting the individual buildings into the close-knit community of a typical high school, while accommodating the space requirements necessary for each program to flourish. Informal outdoor seating and learning environments along the path provide ample opportunity for academic and social interaction among students and connections to the school’s natural setting. FLORICULTURE
CAMPUSUNIFIED
Central Spine
DAIRY BARN CENTER FOR SCIENCE AND THE ENVIRONMENT AGRICULTURALMECHANICS COMMONSSTUDENT
The campus redesign represents a shift in the dynamic at Bristol Aggie. Where academic and career technical programs were previously siloed in their respective buildings, the Student Commons provides a shared facility that students in all majors utilize daily, establishing a sense of place and strengthening the campus community. Home to a cafeteria, media center, media commons, small conference room and administrative offices, the Student Commons encourages socializing, studying, and both formal and informal gathering as a hub for activity on campus. Often used for meetings and presentations by invited technical experts and regional environmental groups, the Student Commons is representative of Bristol Aggie’s commitment to environmental stewardship. The exposed heavy timber frame structure draws upon the school’s connection to its natural surroundings and reduced the embodied carbon required to construct the building.
CAMPUSUNIFIED Hub for Activity
“Our project is a large complex of additions, renovations, new construction and many programs with highly specific, technical requirements.
HMFH has been carefully and methodically helping us work through our needs to develop a thoughtful and comprehensive solution.”
ADELE SANDS, FORMER SUPERINTENDENT, BCAHS
Specialty Labs
To support the unique curriculum in agricultural and environmental science, specialized facilities and technology are tailored to the specific programs they house–providing state-of-the-art spaces that enhance the educational experience. In the CSE, a living learning lab home to natural resource management, animal sciences, and environmental engineering programs, students support the reintroduction of endangered species, care for domesticated animals, and use drones to explore building science.
LEARNINGEXPERIENTIAL
BRIAN BASTARACHE, NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT CHAIR, BCAHS
“The variety and number of projects in which Bristol Aggie can participate grows exponentially with these labs.”
CENTER FOR SCIENCE AND THE ENVIRONMENT (CSE) 1st Floor 1 Biology Lab 8 Grooming Lab 2 Head Start Lab 9 Kennel 3 Plant Lab 10 Treatment Rooms 4 Warm Aquatics Lab 11 Vaccine Clinic 5 Cold Aquatics Lab 12 Surgery Suite 6 Lab Classroom 13 Recovery Suite 7 Museum 14 X Ray Lab 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7 8 9 11 1010 12 13 14
LEARNINGEXPERIENTIAL
Interactive Spaces
Featuring a student-supported, working farm on campus, student involvement is critical to the school’s mission and educational model. Innovative learning spaces expand opportunities for student engagement. A one-of-a-kind indoor climbing structure in Gilbert Hall allows students in arboriculture to practice tree climbing techniques year-round, while a natural history museum on the first floor of the CSE enables natural resource management students to curate and install their own exhibits. In the new net-zero energy ready Dairy Barn, stateof-the-art robotic milking technology regulates the production schedule to allow for student participation, and an observation lab lets students monitor herd health and production levels.
SETH COOK, ARBORICULTURE DEPARTMENT CHAIR, BCAHS
“Today was the first time that I used our indoor climbing structure and... IT WAS AWESOME!”
The entire campus is designed to function as a teaching tool for its students. Custom-made graphics support this vision by illustrating scientific concepts from the curriculum and communicating them in a way that is easily understandable and visually compelling.
Educational Graphics
Mounted on walls, windows and stairwells, the graphics are present throughout the campus, putting science and sustainability on display while strengthening the school’s culture. Whether illustrating the complex process of the fast and slow carbon cycles, breaking down the different components of a vegetative roof garden, or comparing the makeup of plant and animal cells, these graphics are perpetually reinforcing the notion of the campus as a learning tool.
LEARNINGEXPERIENTIAL
TOCONNECTIONNATURE
Outdoor Learning With a curriculum specializing in agriculture and environmental science, students have a unique relationship with the surrounding environment. These close ties between the school and the natural landscape are evident the moment you arrive on campus: amphitheater style outdoor seating for dining and socializing, stone walls made from rocks found on site, indigenous plantings, a dry bed for water filtration and rooftop academic spaces help foster this connection and nurture student well-being.
“The new Bristol Aggie campus is exactly what our staff and students deserve. It is breathtaking, functional and representative of who we are and what we do.”
ADELE SANDS, FORMER SUPERINTENDENT, BCAHS
TOCONNECTIONNATURE
Visual connections to the natural environment are incorporated in all buildings on campus by expansive windows and large, glass workshop doors that infuse interior spaces with daylight and reduce the need for artificial lighting. Common areas and circulation spaces are lined with windows to create compelling lighting conditions, improve student wellbeing with access to natural light, and provide views to the outdoors that reinforce the school’s strong connection to its pastoral setting on a 220-acre working farm.
Daylighting & Views
The energy saved using structural timber is enough to power 20 FORHOMES1YEAR *
*Results created from Woodworks wood products council online calculator. Results are based on wood volumes only and are estimates. These numbers were not created from an LCA. In the Student Commons and Dairy Barn, the use of exposed heavy timber weaves curricular goals with sustainable design elements in a striking display of interior architecture. The structures are a testament that carbon-intensive materials can be replaced by healthy, sustainable alternatives, as building with heavy timber rather than steel or concrete significantly reduces the embodied carbon associated with construction. Visible joints and connection details give students a greater understanding of how a building comes together.
DESIGNLOW-CARBON
160 METRIC TONS in greenhouse gas emissions* Using heavy timber in place of steel or concrete saves
The net-zero energy ready new Dairy Barn is designed with a Mass Timber structure and robotic milking technology, creating an engaging experience for students and providing them with real-world experiences. The barn’s exposed beams span the entire space; timber joints in the pitched roof converge at a linear clerestory that fills the open layout with daylight, creating an environment that draws from and reflect’s the natural setting.
From the outset, environmental stewardship and climate resiliency were important goals for expansion of the campus along the banks of the Taunton DownspoutsRiver. on the CSE are connected to an underground cistern that collects stormwater runoff from the roof to irrigate the landscape between the CSE and Student Commons. Rain chains, bioswales and dry swales on campus catch, filter and reabsorb water through soil to recharge groundwater, while vegetative green roofs slow and filter stormwater runoff and function as academic spaces. Eight composting toilets further reduce the school’s water consumption and reinforce the importance of water conservation.
CONSERVATIONWATER
Bristol Aggie is the first public school in MA to compostingutilizetoilets reducing the Center for Science and the Environment’s WATER USE BY 62%
HMFH ARCHITECTS
Since its founding in 1969, HMFH Architects has established a national reputation for educational design excellence. With its tradition of design excellence, HMFH has earned recognition for skillfully integrating informed educational planning and programming with award-winning design to create memorable, innovative and highly sustainable learning environments.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Ed Wonsek Artworks Inc.
TEAM Client Bristol County Agricultural High School MEP/Technology/Security GGD Consulting Engineers, Inc. Landscape Architecture Halvorson | Tighe & Bond Structural Engineer Foley Buhl Roberts & Associates, Inc. Civil Engineer Samiotes Consultants, Inc. Construction Manager Gilbane Building Company OPM Colliers Project Leaders
PROJECT
www.hmfh.com